WSH@MTL: A bitter loss

MONTREAL - With three unanswered goals in the second period, the Canadiens were certainly trending in the right direction against the defending Stanley Cup champions on Monday night.

All three markers came within the first 95 seconds of the frame, tying the second-fastest three-goal outburst to start any period in franchise history.
At that point, Claude Julien's troops enjoyed a 4-2 lead.
Unfortunately, it didn't last, as the Capitals rallied to eventually secure a 5-4 overtime victory at the Bell Centre.
The loss was a tough one to swallow for the Habs.
"It's tough to lose when you're leading 4-2. We want to win," said assistant captain Brendan Gallagher, whose 10th goal of the season began the three-goal barrage. "It was a quick game with a lot of scoring chances on both sides. We played well for a while. Pricey made some spectacular saves. It's disappointing that we didn't manage to come out on top."

Tomas Tatar was equally disappointed in the outcome as well.
"It wasn't an easy game. We came back from a long trip out West and we felt it at a certain point. We should have scored on the 5-on-3 power play. We have to thank Carey for his work tonight. He was fantastic," said Tatar. "We picked up a point because of him."

During his postgame press conference, Julien expressed similar thoughts as his players.
"We had some good moments, but we were tired at the end. We played with three lines. The third period hurt us. Carey did everything he could to keep us in the game," said Julien. "We were in a good position at one point, but penalties cost us the game. It was tough for us to maintain our rhythm against Washington in a situation like that."

Jeff Petry hits a new career-high
When Noah Juulsen went down in the first period and was forced to leave the game, the rest of the Canadiens' defensemen were forced to pick up the slack.
Veteran Jeff Petry was the most-utilized player on the ice, logging 33:51 of ice time, which was a new career-high for the 30-year-old blueliner.
"Injuries happen, so the other guys have to play more," explained Petry, who also scored a goal and collected an assist against the Capitals.

For his part, Julien mentioned that Petry's play is key with Shea Weber still on the sidelines.
"I think he's been especially good for us this year. That's important because of Shea's injury," mentioned Julien. "Petey is one of the players who raised the level of his game and helped us fill the void in Weber's absence."
Max Domi makes some history
With an assist on Monday night, Max Domi extended his point streak to 10 consecutive games.
That made him the first Canadiens player to post a 10-game point streak since Vincent Damphousse accomplished the feat in 1996.
Domi boasts a team-leading 25 points (10g - 15a) through 21 games.
Up next, the Canadiens will hit the road for a two-game trip to New Jersey and Buffalo. They'll battle the Devils on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center, before taking on the Sabres on Friday afternoon at the KeyBank Center.